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Held Fast by Sovereign Grace: The Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to Reform Thinking. We are jumping right in today
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  with a question that is probably one of the most unsettling, but
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  also one of the most freeing for any believer.
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  It's that question that just sits there in the back of your
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  mind during a struggle or a moment of doubt.
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  If I'm saved today, can I lose that salvation tomorrow?
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  I mean, can a true believer finally actually fall away and
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  be lost forever? And look, this isn't just some
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  academic thing to debate. This is a pastoral crisis.
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  Every pastor, every, you know, seasoned Christian has seen it.
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  Someone who looked like they were on fire, they were zealous,
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  they knew the gospel they were serving.
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  Maybe they even LED people to Christ.
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  And then later they just turn away.
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  They walk away from the faith, they reject fellowship, and they
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  live like that first profession never even happened.
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  And that reality, it just cuts to the nerve center of our
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  assurance, doesn't it? It forces you to ask, what was
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  that faith they had? Was it real?
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  And what is it that secures the rest of us against, you know,
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  temptation, suffering, or just that slow spirits drift?
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  Because if our security depends on our ability to hold on to
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  God, well, then we've got every reason to be afraid.
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  We know how weak our own grip is.
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  So our mission in this deep dive is to anchor our assurance not
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  in our own strength, but in God's.
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  We're going to look at the robust biblical answer from the
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  reforms tradition, the doctrine of the perseverance of the
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  Saints. We'll dig into the promises of
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  Scripture, see how the Westminster Confession lays it
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  all out, and most importantly, figure out how it applies in a
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  practical, pastoral way. Right.
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  So we're aiming for clarity here.
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  We want to show the security that a believer has without, you
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  know, promoting any kind of carelessness.
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  The goal is to show that the very same divine grace that
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  starts salvation is the grace that guarantees its completion.
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  OK, let's unpack this. This is a crucial doctrine.
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  If we're talking to someone who's maybe only heard slogans
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  like once saved, always saved, we need a really precise
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  definition. What is the perseverance of the
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  Saints or pots? What does it actually assert?
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  Fundamentally, the doctrine asserts that all those who are
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  genuinely converted, so people God has effectually called
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  regenerated and justified, will without a doubt continue in
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  saving faith and repentance until the end of their lives,
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  and they will absolutely be eternally saved.
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  They cannot, in the end, be lost.
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  And who are the Saints in that title?
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  I can sound a bit exclusive. That's a vital point of clarity.
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  The Saints here. It's not some special group of
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  super Christians. It just means all believers.
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  Everyone who's been set apart or sanctified in Christ by the Holy
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  Spirit. The main point is simple.
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  True faith, by its very nature, isn't temporary.
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  It doesn't run out. It won't finally and ultimately
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  fail. So this doctrine is really a
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  statement about God's faithfulness, you know, not a
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  prediction about our human resolve.
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  So we still have to keep believing.
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  Oh. Absolutely.
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  But the certainty that we will keep believing rests entirely on
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  God's unchangeable character. I see, so if God's action is the
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  foundation, but the Christian is still commanded to fight and
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  believe, we had to clarify those roles.
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  It sounds like a dynamic thing, not just a passive status.
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  It is completely dynamic, and we have to draw a sharp distinction
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  between God's preservation and the believer's perseverance.
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  They're two sides of the same Preservation is about God's
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  sovereign action. The Father keeps his elect, the
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  sun guards his sheep, the Spirit seals the redeemed.
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  That's the cause, the engine behind it all.
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  Perseverance, on the other hand, is about the believers
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  experience and duty. It's the effect the Christian
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  continues to believe, to repent, to fight sin, and to use the
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  means of grace. It's a real spirit produced
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  endurance through life's trials. So if I'm getting this right,
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  you're saying God doesn't preserve a believer apart from
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  their faith, He preserves them through their faith.
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  My active effort is actually the path God uses to hold me up.
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  You've got it exactly right. Reformed theology insists God
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  preserves us through our obedience and act of faith.
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  And this distinction is so important because it keeps the
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  doctrine from becoming, you know, mechanical or fatalistic,
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  where the Christian is just a puppet.
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  The struggle is real, the fight is painful, The doubts can be
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  sincere, but the reason the believer is certain to make it
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  is because God is sustaining their ability to struggle and
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  fight. Our effort is the fruit of our
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  preservation, not the ground of it.
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  That makes sense. It protects God's sovereignty
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  but also our genuine human responsibility.
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  It does. OK, that distinction helps with
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  the normal Christian life, but let's get real.
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  What about catastrophic failure? We all know the stories of David
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  and Peter. They committed huge public sins
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  for the person listening who's battling some major temptation
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  or guilt. How does this doctrine handle
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  believers who fall into really serious sin?
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  And this is where we need our second vital distinction, the
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  difference between grievous falls and final apostasy.
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  Scripture is incredibly realistic about the lives of
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  believers because sin is still in US.
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  Even the most devoted Christian can fall into very serious, very
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  public, very costly sins. David's adultery and murder,
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  Peter's denial of Christ with cursing.
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  I mean, these are not small stumbles.
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  They're catastrophic failures. They grieve the Spirit, they
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  wound the conscience, they bring shame on the gospel, and they
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  require severe discipline from God.
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  So during that time, is there salvation hanging by a thread?
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  The doctrine of perseverance would say no.
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  While their fellowship with God is broken and their assurance is
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  probably shattered, their union with Christ is held fast by
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  God's faithfulness. Pots denies final apostasy.
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  That is a decisive, settled, unrepentant turning away from
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  Christ where the heart becomes permanently hard.
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  So David was preserved even while he was in the middle of
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  committing murder? That seems hard to grasp.
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  The preservation rests on the covenant God made with him and
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  the new heart God gave him, not on his performance in that
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  moment. And think about what happened
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  next. God sent Nathan the prophet.
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  Exactly. God sent Nathan.
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  God disciplined him severely. God brought him to a place of
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  crushing, heartfelt repentance, which we see so powerfully in
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  Psalm 51. That discipline was the very
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  means of his preservation. The doctrine says a true
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  believer can wander far, but it insists they can't wander so far
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  that the Good Shepherd who paid the price will just let them be
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  lost forever. That has to be a real comfort
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  for someone listening who feels like they've sinned too much.
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  It's a huge comfort, the very fact that you're battling sin,
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  that you fear your own weakness, that you grieve over it and long
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  for restoration. That itself is often powerful
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  evidence that the Spirit is at work, that preservation is
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  active. It's the discipline of a Father,
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  not the sentence of a judge. OK, that clarifies things for
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  the person struggling internally.
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  But what about those people who walk away and just never come
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  back? They seem to be the exact
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  opposite of perseverance. You know, they were prominent in
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  the church, maybe went to seminary, maybe they were a
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  Deacon, and now they openly mocked the faith.
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  What is their departure say about POTS?
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  Their departure brings us to our third critical distinction, the
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  difference between the visible church and a saving union with
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  Christ. We have to be pastorally
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  realistic. The church is always a mixed
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  group. The field has both wheat and
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  tares. Just like Jesus said.
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  Many people are connected on the outside.
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  They're baptized, they take communion, they agree with the
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  teaching. They're part of the fellowship.
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  They may even serve with what looks like zeal, but they've
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  never been inwardly regenerated. Scripture talks about this,
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  doesn't it? It's a sort of temporary faith.
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  It does. It describes a real intellectual
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  agreement, even an emotional response to spiritual things.
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  But it lacks the root of a true saving union with Christ.
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  So when these individuals later abandoned the faith, their
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  apostasy isn't a loss of salvation, it's the proof that
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  their profession was never true possession.
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  And there's a key verse for this, isn't there?
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  There is first John 2.19 is really the exegetical key here.
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  It says they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if
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  they had been of us they would have continued with us.
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  So they're leaving prove they were never truly part of the
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  group. Yes, their final settled
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  departure shows in hindsight that the new heart and true
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  faith, the very seeds of perseverance, were never there
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  in the 1st place. So the departure of a false
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  professor actually confirms rather than contradicts the
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  truth that real Saints are preserved.
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  That leads to the mechanics of it all, specifically our
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  standing versus our life. How does perseverance clarify
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  the relationship between justification, our legal
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  standing, and sanctification, our moral life?
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  I mean, does my slow progress in becoming holy put my
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  justification at risk? And that's our 4th essential
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  distinction separating justification and
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  sanctification. Justification is God's one time
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  legal verdict. The Sinner is declared righteous
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  based only on Christ's righteousness received by faith.
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  It's a status we get in full the moment we believe.
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  Sanctification is the necessary, ongoing and often very slow work
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  of the Holy Spirit, making us actually holy in our daily
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  lives. OK.
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  And perseverance keeps those two from getting mixed.
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  Up it does. It denies 2 common errors.
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  First, it denies antinomianism, which is the idea that
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  sanctification is somehow optional.
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  True saving faith is a persevering faith, and it must
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  produce fruit. A justified person can't stay
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  permanently unchanged and unrepentant.
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  Union with Christ produces transformation.
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  And the second error. The second is moralism.
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  This is the idea that our final acceptance with God depends on
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  the quality of our performance. But our holiness, our
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  sanctification, is the evidence of Christ.
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  It's the natural result of being joined to Christ.
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  It is never the price we pay to stay saved.
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  So our preservation rests on Christ's work, not ours.
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  Wholly on Christ's perfect merit and faithfulness, not on the up
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  and down strength of our own efforts.
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  This balance is what protects the Gospel itself.
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  We're saved by grace alone, and that grace is powerful enough to
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  actually make us holy. OK, so if we pull those 4
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  distinctions together, preservation and perseverance
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  falls in apostasy, the visible church and saving, union,
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  justification and sanctification.
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  What are the specific counterfeits this doctrine rules
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  out? It rules out several big
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  misunderstandings. First, it totally denies carnal
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  security. This is that crude abuse of the
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  idea, often mislabeled, Once saved, always saved, where a
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  past decision is treated like a get out of jail free card for
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  present rebellion. That's just presumption.
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  It is perseverance is perseverance in faith and
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  repentance, not perseverance in sin.
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  Second, it denies works based security.
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  This is that natural human tendency to see God as an
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  employer who only keeps us around if we meet our spiritual
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  quota. That just leads to despair for
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  the weak and a dangerous pride for the strong.
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  Perseverance says security is in Christ's finished work, not our
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  daily output. And 3rd, it denies conditional
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  security as its opponents define it.
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  That's the view that God start salvation.
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  But the deciding factor is our own unaided willpower to keep
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  believing. Perseverance insists that God
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  saves his people completely and keeps them securely.
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  He provides the means, He supplies the strength, and he
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  produces the endurance. So we've laid out what it is and
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  what it isn't. But this certainty has to be
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  based on something more than just our own resolve.
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  So let's get to the foundation. Where does the Bible anchor this
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  truth? It has to be grounded in the
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  Triune God. It does.
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  If a believer's stability depended on their own
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  consistency, the Christian life would be a state of constant
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  fear. The Bible anchors our security
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  in the unified, sovereign purpose of God, the coordinated
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  work of the Father of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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  Let's start with the Father's unbreakable purpose.
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  Paul lays this out so clearly in Romans 8.
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  It's probably the most systematic and comforting
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  passage on security in the whole New Testament.
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  Paul gives us what's often called the Golden Chain in
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  Romans 8, verses 29 and 30. Remind us of the links in that
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  chain. He writes for those whom he
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  foreknew, he also predestined, and those whom he predestined he
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  also called. And those whom he priested and
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  he also called, and those whom he also called, he also
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  justified. And those whom he justified, he
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  also glorified. Now this isn't a list of things
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  that might happen. It's a chain of divine effective
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  action. There are no gaps.
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  There are no breaks. If you are justified, the text
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  says you will be glorified. That seems completely
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  definitive. The logic is airtight.
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  But that last word glorified. That's a future event.
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  But Paul speaks of it in the past tense.
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  Why is that so significant? This is the crucial little
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  detail that makes the passage so powerful.
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  When Paul says glorified, the Greek verb is a doxasin.
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  It's in the a orist indicative, a tense often used for a
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  completed past action. So he's talking about a future
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  event as if it already happened. Exactly why would he do that?
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  Because in the decree and the mind of God, the glorification
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  of His people is so certain, so guaranteed by His purpose, that
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  it's spoken of as an accomplished fact.
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  It's a done deal. For a justified person to be
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  lost, God's foreknowledge would have to be wrong or his
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  predestination would have to fail.
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  The chain just cannot be broken. That completely shifts the
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  ground of our confidence. It's not on my own weak grip,
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  but on the God who forged the chain from the beginning.
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  And we see this elsewhere. Philippians 1.6 He who began a
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  good work in you will bring it to completion.
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  God doesn't start something this big only to let it fizzle out
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  because of human weakness. Or think of what Jesus says in
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  John six. He says he will lose nothing of
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  all that the Father gives him. Our security is tied up in
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  Christ's own faithfulness to the Father.
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  If even one of his true sheep perished, Christ would have
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  failed his mission. OK, so the Father decrees it.
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  Let's move to the Son. How does Christ as our Shepherd
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  and mediator personally guarantee that we won't fall
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  away? Christ secures our perseverance
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  in two powerful ways, His active physical keeping of us and His
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  ongoing spiritual intercession for us.
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  OK, look at the shepherd image in John 10.
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  Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice.
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  I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no
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  one will snatch them out of my hand.
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  That phrase they will never perish is where you see the
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  intensity of the promise. In the original Greek, he uses
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  the strongest possible negative construction.
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  It's a double negative umi with the aorist subjunctive and.
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  What does that mean practically? It means it's an absolute
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  impossibility. It's not just they won't perish,
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  it means never under any circumstance will they ever
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  perish. It's an oath.
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  Wow, that's powerful. And then he reinforces that
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  earth with the hand metaphor. He says the sheep are in his
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  hand and no one can snatch them out.
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  Then he raises the stakes. My father, who has given them to
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  me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out
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  of the father's hands. So we're held by two hands.
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  Yes, the believer security is held by the combined overlapping
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  omnipotence of the Father and the Son.
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  For a real sheep to be lost, some force would have to
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  overpower the Triune God. It's just unthinkable.
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  And beyond that, Shepherd's grip, his work for us, didn't
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  stop at the cross, right? He's still active.
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  Not at all, and this is key. Our perseverance is secured by
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  Christ's present work as our living advocate.
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  Romans 8.34 says Christ is at the right hand of God,
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  interceding for us. We have a lawyer and advocate
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  who is always active, always speaking for us before the
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  Father. Hebrews 7.25 says He always
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  lives to make intercession for them.
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  When we sin, our repentance can waver, but His intercession
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  doesn't. Our safety rests on the constant
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  work of our living high priests. OK, the Father elects, the sun
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  keeps. So what about the Holy Spirit?
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  How does the Spirit guarantee our future inheritance?
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  How does he act as a sort of down payment the.
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  Spirit's role is described with really powerful legal language,
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  sealing and pledging. Ephesians one says we are sealed
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  with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our
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  inheritance. Now that word guarantee in the
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  Greek is ahabun. And that's a technical term.
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  It is in the 1st century world. It was a legal term.
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  It meant a non refundable down payment, a first installment
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  that legally bound the buyer to complete the whole purchase.
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  The Spirit in US is God's legal pledge that He will not back out
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  of the deal. He's going to complete the
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  transaction. So the Spirit's presence isn't
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  just a warm feeling, it's a legal contract binding God to
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  our final glorification. That's it.
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  And the sealing part signifies ownership and protection.
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  Ephesians 4 says we're sealed for the day of redemption, the
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  guarantee less all the way to the end.
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  But again, this doesn't mean we're passive.
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  First, Peter one says we are being guarded by God's power
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  through faith. God guards us, but He does it
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  through the means of faith, which the Spirit Himself
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  sustains in US. He doesn't bypass our faith, He
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  makes sure it endures. And you mentioned this idea was
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  in the Old Covenant promises too.
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  It wasn't just a New Testament invention.
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  Not at all. The New Covenant as promised by
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  the prophets explicitly secures this in Jeremiah 32.
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  God promises I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they
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  may not turn from me. So it's a promise to work on the
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  heart itself. It is.
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  It's not just about forgiveness. It's about God doing internal
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  heart work that makes final apostasy impossible for His
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  people. Ezekiel 36 says the same thing.
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  God promises a new heart and a new spirit, saying I will cause
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  you to walk in my statutes. Perseverance is built right into
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  the structure of the New Covenant.
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  And finally, systematically, where does this doctrine fit in
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  the whole structure of Reformed thought?
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  You call it a keystone. It really is the necessary
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  outcome if you accept the other doctrines of grace.
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  Perseverance has to follow. If unconditional election is
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  true that God chooses his people based only on his good pleasure,
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  then his choice can't be undone by their failures.
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  And if limited atonement is true that Christ paid the penalty for
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  all the sins of his people, that payment covers future sins too,
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  including backsliding and doubt. If a believer could be lost, it
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  would mean Christ's payment wasn't enough and the person
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  would have to pay for those sins.
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  In hell. There would be double jeopardy,
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  a violation of divine justice. So perseverance is the necessary
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  conclusion of a sovereign, effective grace.
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  OK, this is where we have to address the major point of
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  tension. If our security is so absolute,
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  guaranteed by the whole Trinity, why is Scripture filled with
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  these terrifying warning passages, verses in Hebrews that
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  talk about it being impossible to restore them again to
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  repentance or warnings to take care lest there be in any of you
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  an evil, unbelieving heart? How do we square that?
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  This is where so many people get stuck.
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  If salvation is a guarantee, why all the urgent warnings?
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  And the Reformed answer is that we don't dismiss the warnings.
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  We recognize their necessary function.
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  Both the comfort and the warning are essential tools God uses to
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  preserve his Saints. First, we need that pastoral
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  realism again. The church is a mixed assembly.
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  The warnings in the Bible are written to the visible church,
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  the congregation, which always has both true believers and mere
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  professors in it. So the warnings have to work in
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  that environment to comfort the humble and at the same time
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  unsettle the complacent. So the same warning can have two
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  different effects on two different people sitting in the
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  same Pew. That's it exactly.
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  They perform a dual function and this is often misunderstood.
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  So function A is exposing false profession.
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  The warnings are designed to strip away the illusion that
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  just being near spiritual things means you have saving grace.
• 18:43
  People can taste heavenly gifts, be enlightened, share in the
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  life of the church. They can have real religious
• 18:48
  experiences, but never actually possess Christ himself.
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  So the warning acts like a diagnostic test.
• 18:54
  If they leave for good, it proves they were never really of
• 18:57
  us like first, John says. Precisely.
• 18:59
  The warnings force the false professor to see how serious
• 19:02
  their position is before it's too late.
• 19:04
  They shatter any complacency that's just built on external
• 19:06
  religion. But there is a second, equally
• 19:09
  important function. Function B is preserving true
• 19:12
  believers. This is key.
• 19:14
  God preserves his people through the means of warning.
• 19:17
  OK, say more about. That the warnings aren't
• 19:19
  threats, that true Saints just barely escape.
• 19:21
  They are the very engine of their preservation.
• 19:23
  They create humility, they awaken watchfulness, They stir
• 19:26
  up a healthy fear of sins, consequences, and they drive the
• 19:29
  true believer back to a constant reliance on Christ and the means
• 19:33
  of grace. So you're reframing the whole
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  purpose. The warnings aren't a
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  contradiction to security. They're the very mechanism that
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  makes us secure, like a spiritual immune system.
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  That's a great analogy. Or the one about a father
• 19:45
  warning his child play near a Cliff.
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  The stern warning isn't a lack of love, it's the very thing
• 19:51
  that keeps the child from falling.
• 19:53
  God warns us, and the true believer, empowered by the
• 19:57
  Spirit, hears that warning and runs back to safety.
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  The warning doesn't undermine perseverance.
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  It guarantees it by producing vigilance and repentance.
• 20:06
  And this really helps with the book of Hebrews.
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  It does. Hebrews has some of the most
• 20:10
  severe sounding warnings. The author is writing to
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  Christians who are tempted to drift back to the old visible
• 20:16
  forms of the Old Covenant. He talks about people who have
• 20:20
  tasted the heavenly gift and been partakers of the Holy
• 20:23
  Spirit. And if someone has tasted the
• 20:25
  heavenly gift, how can you say they weren't really saved?
• 20:28
  Well, we have to let Scripture define its own terms.
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  Tasting isn't the same as eating and being nourished by it.
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  Being enlightened isn't the same as having a saving union.
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  The author uses this strong language to show the extreme
• 20:40
  danger of getting that close to grace and then turning away.
• 20:44
  It heightens the stakes. If you've seen the glory of
• 20:47
  Christ, if you've tasted the benefits of his community and
• 20:49
  you still turn back to shadows, your sin is that much greater
• 20:53
  and you prove your heart was never really His.
• 20:55
  The goal is pastoral urgency to prevent drift and shatter
• 20:59
  presumption. OK, that balances it out.
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  The warnings are a serious call to check yourself.
• 21:04
  But for the true believer, they're like an alarm clock
• 21:06
  driving them back to repentance and to Christ.
• 21:09
  So we've looked at the Bible and the pastoral tension.
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  Now let's get systematic. How does the Westminster
• 21:14
  Confession of Faith summarize all of this into one clear,
• 21:17
  comprehensive statement? The Westminster Confession in
• 21:19
  Chapter 17 does a masterful job. It states that those whom God
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  has accepted in Christ and called can neither totally nor
• 21:27
  finally fall away from the state of grace, but they will
• 21:29
  certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.
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  And the strength of the confession here is, that it
• 21:36
  immediately grounds that certainty.
• 21:38
  It says this perseverance rests not upon their own free will,
• 21:42
  but on 4 divine tillers, God's unchanging decree of election,
• 21:47
  Christ's merit and constant intercession, the indwelling of
• 21:50
  the Spirit, and the very nature of the covenant of grace.
• 21:53
  So it's very intentional about removing human effort as the
• 21:57
  foundation for our security. Absolutely.
• 21:59
  It makes it clear that perseverance isn't a personal
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  quality we have. It's a covenantal promise
• 22:03
  secured by God himself who is bound to finish what he started.
• 22:07
  He promises to protect the seed of faith even if the fruit is
• 22:10
  weak for a time. And importantly, the confession
• 22:12
  maintains that pastoral realism we talked about.
• 22:15
  It acknowledges that true Saints can, through temptation and
• 22:18
  neglect, fall into serious sins and stay in them for a season.
• 22:21
  But the confession draws a bright line.
• 22:24
  These sins bring on God's fatherly displeasure, they
• 22:27
  grieve the Spirit, and they lead to temporal judgments and
• 22:30
  discipline. So if a believer sins, they face
• 22:33
  God's discipline, not his rejection.
• 22:35
  The discipline is actually proof of the relationship, not proof
• 22:37
  that it's over. That's it.
• 22:39
  Discipline is a rescue mission, not an execution.
• 22:41
  It's God's loving, active intervention to force a
• 22:44
  confrontation with sin and bring his child back to repentance.
• 22:48
  The temporary loss of joy and the painful consequences are all
• 22:51
  part of the means he uses to secure their perseverance.
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  Let's tie this to the center of Reformed theology, our union
• 22:58
  with Christ. How does that core idea make it
• 23:00
  clear why we can't be severed from him?
• 23:02
  Union with Christ is really the organizing principle of
• 23:05
  salvation. When we're saved, we are joined
• 23:08
  to the risen Christ. We become members of his body,
• 23:11
  as Paul says. So if a believer could be lost,
• 23:14
  it would mean that Christ could be torn apart from his own
• 23:16
  members. The life he gives us is his
• 23:18
  resurrection life. To lose salvation would mean
• 23:21
  that resurrection life itself could die, which is impossible.
• 23:24
  And this union clarifies the difference between the legal and
• 23:27
  the moral. Our justification is a settled
• 23:30
  verdict in Christ. Our sanctification is the
• 23:33
  necessary result of that union, but it's not the condition for
• 23:36
  keeping the verdict. We persevere because the Spirit
• 23:39
  of the risen Christ lives in US, making permanent transformation
• 23:43
  inevitable, even if it's slow. OK, finally, let's talk about
• 23:46
  the polemics. When the Reformed churches were
• 23:48
  writing these confessions, who were they arguing against?
• 23:51
  And why does that history still matter for someone listening
• 23:53
  today? The doctrine was really hammered
• 23:56
  out in the middle of historical debates, mainly against two
• 23:59
  major errors and also against the abuse of the doctrine
• 24:02
  itself. 1st, the biggest opponent was Arminianism,
• 24:06
  specifically the Remonstrance, who argued for conditional
• 24:08
  security. They said that God start
• 24:10
  salvation, but we have the power to willfully and finally throw
• 24:14
  it away. The Synod of Dort correctly saw
• 24:18
  that this moves the deciding factor for our endurance from
• 24:21
  God's faithfulness to our own fragile willpower.
• 24:25
  And if perseverance depends on us, well, then no real assurance
• 24:28
  is ever possible. And the reformed answer to that.
• 24:30
  The Reformed answer is that perseverance is a work of God.
• 24:33
  He preserves us so that we are able to persevere.
• 24:36
  We are kept by His sustaining grace, not by our own ability to
• 24:39
  hold on. And that matters to day because
• 24:42
  it tells you whether to look inward in fear or outward to
• 24:44
  Christ in confidence. Second, the doctrine stands
• 24:47
  against the position of the Council of Trent and the Roman
• 24:49
  Catholic Church. The Trent doctrine says
• 24:52
  justification is an infused grace that can be lost through
• 24:55
  mortal sin. You then have to regain it
• 24:57
  through the sacrament of Penance.
• 24:59
  And what's the end result of that view?
• 25:00
  It leaves the believer in a state of constant, agonizing
• 25:03
  uncertainty, always dependent on their own performance and
• 25:07
  subjective evaluation of their sin.
• 25:09
  Perseverance, by contrast, anchors our security and
• 25:12
  Christ's completed work. The legal bond remains even if
• 25:16
  the fellowship is strained by sin.
• 25:18
  And 3rd. And this is where the balance is
• 25:20
  so critical. We stand against antinomianism.
• 25:23
  This is the error of abusing security, saying that since
• 25:26
  salvation is guaranteed, obedience doesn't matter.
• 25:29
  This idea that you can have Christ as Savior but not as Lord
• 25:32
  is a heresy. The confession is clear.
• 25:35
  It's the perseverance of the Saints, those set apart by the
• 25:38
  Spirit. A person who shows no fruit of
• 25:40
  repentance and is at peace with their sin shows they don't have
• 25:43
  the Spirit and therefore never had true salvation to begin
• 25:46
  with. The grace that justifies is the
• 25:48
  same grace that changes us. The knowledge is clear, but you
• 25:51
  know the application is everything.
• 25:53
  How does this solid doctrine of perseverance actually function
• 25:56
  as steady ballast in the daily Christian life?
• 26:00
  How do we use it to counsel someone who's afraid without
• 26:02
  giving false comfort to a hypocrite?
• 26:04
  We have to apply it using that classic distinction between law
• 26:06
  and gospel. This doctrine perfectly speaks
• 26:09
  to the deepest fear of the anxious believer.
• 26:12
  Am I going to make it to the end for the weary, struggling
• 26:15
  Christian, the one who loves Christ, who hates their own
• 26:19
  inconsistency, who is in a real battle with sin?
• 26:22
  Pots is pure comfort, pure gospel.
• 26:26
  It tells them to stop looking inward at their own feelings,
• 26:29
  which will always let them down. Instead, it tells them to look
• 26:31
  outward to Christ's finished work and his living
• 26:34
  intercessions. So we're telling them that
• 26:35
  salvation isn't something they have to carry, but something
• 26:38
  that is carrying them. That's it.
• 26:39
  Their salvation is a guarded inheritance kept by God's power,
• 26:43
  not some fragile thing they might drop.
• 26:45
  And this frees them from that paralyzing self analysis and
• 26:49
  gives them the hope they need to endure suffering.
• 26:52
  When Jesus told Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith
• 26:54
  may not fail, we know that same prayer continues for us now.
• 26:58
  Our safety isn't in the strength of our grip on Christ, but in
• 27:01
  the reality of his grip on us. And that hope lets us fight
• 27:05
  because we know the outcome of the battle is already decided.
• 27:08
  And on the flip side, for the complacent person?
• 27:10
  Yes, for the complacent, hypocritical professor, the one
• 27:13
  who's making peace with sin, pots functions as a moral
• 27:17
  safeguard. As law, it confronts anyone who
• 27:20
  tries to cheapen grace. Since true faith always
• 27:23
  perseveres in holiness, a person living in unrepentant sin has no
• 27:27
  biblical reason to claim they are secure.
• 27:29
  So a pastor can call for urgent repentance without watering down
• 27:32
  the doctrine of grace. Exactly.
• 27:34
  The doctrine allows a pastor to preach with real seriousness.
• 27:38
  Do not be deceived. You reap what you sow while at
• 27:41
  the same time offering the tender gospel promise.
• 27:44
  Return to the Lord. He restores backsliders.
• 27:47
  And This is why church discipline isn't cruel.
• 27:49
  It's a rescue mission. It's one of the key means Christ
• 27:53
  uses to force a confrontation with sin in the life of a
• 27:55
  wandering church member. It's a loving act to secure
• 27:58
  their perseverance. And if they reject it and walk
• 28:01
  away, well, that reveals they were never truly part of the
• 28:03
  flock. So if God preserves us, what are
• 28:05
  the specific daily things he uses to keep us?
• 28:08
  Does he just work around our efforts?
• 28:10
  No God preserves His people through ordained means.
• 28:14
  Perseverance isn't God promising to just airlift us out of the
• 28:17
  Christian life. It's His promise to carry us
• 28:19
  through it using the tools He's given us.
• 28:22
  Those means are, you know, the faithful preaching of the Word,
• 28:25
  consistent prayer, the sacraments, fellowship with
• 28:27
  other believers, and church discipline.
• 28:30
  The Holy Spirit sustains our faith by keeping us connected to
• 28:33
  these things. This is the antidote to chasing
• 28:35
  spiritual highs or looking for shortcuts.
• 28:38
  Steadfastness is grown in the ordinary rhythms of worship and
• 28:41
  repentance. And we also have to keep that
• 28:44
  distinction between a perseverance, which is God's
• 28:46
  objective fact, and assurance, which is our felt certainty.
• 28:50
  A true believer can sin or neglect the means of grace, and
• 28:53
  as a result they can temporarily lose their feeling of assurance,
• 28:56
  but they remain preserved. The preservation is certain.
• 28:59
  The feeling of it isn't always constant.
• 29:01
  So the pastoral advice is never just try harder.
• 29:04
  Never. The advice is to point the
• 29:06
  anxious person outward to Christ's objective of promises,
• 29:10
  and at the same time we encourage sober self
• 29:12
  examination. Do you hunger for holiness?
• 29:15
  Do you hate your sin? Do you love God's people?
• 29:17
  These are the real internal evidences the Spirit produces.
• 29:21
  Assurance grows as we see the ongoing, messy but real presence
• 29:24
  of these fruits in our lives. So what's the ultimate character
• 29:28
  trait this doctrine should produce in a church?
• 29:30
  It should produce a people marked by gratitude, humility,
• 29:33
  and genuine obedience. It trains a church to measure
• 29:36
  its health by enduring fruit and steadfastness under trial, not
• 29:39
  by momentary zeal or big events. And it directs all the glory to
• 29:43
  God alone. Soli de O Gloria obedience stops
• 29:46
  being a frantic effort to stay saved and becomes a joyful
• 29:49
  response because we are saved. This has been really helpful and
• 29:52
  clarifying deep dive we started with that anxious question, Can
• 29:55
  I lose it all? And the sources from Romans 8 to
• 29:57
  Westminster give a clear answer. Salvation is God's work from
• 30:01
  beginning to end, secured by the triune God.
• 30:04
  It's grace that produces our continuance, not our own grit.
• 30:07
  And we have to apply this truth in both directions.
• 30:10
  For the complacent person resting on a dead faith, don't
• 30:12
  mistake presumption for security.
• 30:14
  This doctrine demands a living, active faith.
• 30:17
  Flee to Christ today and seek real repentance.
• 30:20
  But for the struggling St. the one who's fighting temptation,
• 30:23
  grieving failure, weary in the battle, take real comfort.
• 30:27
  Your eternal safety doesn't rest.
• 30:29
  And how strong your hold on Christ is, but entirely in the
• 30:31
  immovable reality of his hold on you.
• 30:34
  Glory belongs, as Jude says, to him who is able to keep you from
• 30:37
  stumbling and to present you blameless.
• 30:40
  The ability to stand blameless at the end is His, not ours.
• 30:43
  So what does that mean for your fight against temptation today?
• 30:47
  It means you fight from victory, not for it.
• 30:49
  Use the means of grace, listen to the warnings that keep you
• 30:52
  watchful, and rest in the finished and ongoing work of the
• 30:55
  One who promises to lose nothing the Father has given him.
• 30:58
  Thanks for joining us for this deep dive into the certainty of
• 31:00
  God's keeping grace.